Collapsible bucket



UNITED STATES PATENT oEEioE.

CHARLES W. CURTISS, OF NE\V HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

COLLAPSIBLE BUCKET.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 30,465, dated October 23, 1860.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES 7. CURTISS, of the city and county of New Haven, in the State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Portable Buckets as a New Article of Manufacture; and I do hereby declare that the `following is a full, clear, and exact description of the conw struction, character, and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which make part of this specification, in which- Figure l, is a perspective view of a bucket when held up by the bail. Fig. 2, is a perspective view of the same as it will appear when not used.

My improvement relates to the construction of portable buckets for watering horses, &c., on the road, in the woods, Sac. It being made of a bottom and one, or more, rims, and covered with india-rubber cloth or any other analogous substance, which will readily fall, essentially, into a form, or mass, no thicker than the bottom, and of the diameter of the largest rim.

I make the bottom, A, Fig. 2, of the bucket, of wood, or any other suitable material, either circular, or polygonal, and smaller in diameter than the smallest rim, (so that the rim will fall outside of it.)

I make the rim, or rims, (l, c, of iron wire or any other suitable material, (which may be galvanized with any desired metah) somewhat larger in diameter than the bot` tom, and when I use more than one, I make each one larger than the one below it to allow all of them to fall, (one outside of the other,) to the same horizontalA level, as shown in Fig. 2.

I make the bail, B, of iron wire, or any other suitable material, of such dimensions that when it falls down it will, substantially, correspond with, and rest upon, the largest rim, (when more than one is used.) so that when it falls down, (as shown in Fig. 2,) the whole will occupy no more space than the thickness of the bottom., and the diameter of the largest rim.

I cover this frame, or skeleton, with india rubber cloth, or any other suitable substance, which will be impervious to water,

and suiiciently flexible to fall into the smallest compass, or occupy the least space when not used, so that the whole will appear, when held-up by the bail, as represented in Fig. l, and, when ready to lay aside, as represented in Fig. 2.

If thought best, (as it may be in some cases) braces, or supports, may be used, eX- tending from the eyes, c, and c, at. the bail, (or elsewhere about the ri1n,) to the bottom, as represented at (l, (Z, Fig. l, which will support it in the proper shape, or condition, to hold water without being supported by the bail, and, when it is not in use, the braces may be released and allowed to rest across the bottom, as represented in Fig. 2.

To use this bucket, (as a traveler would when using his own team,) I take it by the bail, B, and dip up the water, and, (when the braces, d, (I, are not used,) pass my hands to the rim at, or near, the eyes, c, and c, and thus hold the bucket by the rim, on opposite sides, while the horse is drinking, and when I have done using the bucket I allow it to fall down, or together, into the collapsed state, represented in Fig. 2, when it may be laid under the cushion on the seat, or in any other convenient place, as it never will need to be more than half an inch in thickness, and one foot in diameter, and it may be less if preferred.

I am aware that frames, or skeletons, have often been made of wood and wire, and that such frames, or skeletons, have been covered with cloth of various kinds, and for various purposes. I therefore do not claim either of them as such, as my invent-ion, but

llhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent as a new article of manufacture, is-

A portable bucket made of a skeleton, or frame, composed of a bottom, and one, or more, rims, and covered with india-rubber cloth. or any other suitable material, when the whole is constructed, and fitted for use, substantially as herein described.

CHS. IV. CURTISS. 

